


With Darkness Our Tears Collide

by ItsBeanTime



Category: RWBY
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe, Angst, BAMF Blake, F/F, Fluff, Good for them, Hurt Blake, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Injury, My god! these bitches gay, Past Blake Belladonna/Adam Taurus, Pre-Canon, Raven is Ruby's parent, Taiyang dissapeared instead, Trans Female Character, WereGrimm au, past abusive relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28363206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsBeanTime/pseuds/ItsBeanTime
Summary: Having escaped Adam and the White Fang, Blake undergoes a world changing transformation and must now deal with the consequences.Or in other words, a self gratuitous weregrimm fic.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Ruby Rose, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Raven Branwen/Summer Rose
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	1. Escape

Blake had finally had enough. To say that Adam had gone too far would be quite the understatement. She should have realised it much sooner, however here she was, finally finished with the preparations to leave during the train raid planned for the next day.

She was on her way back from what was supposed to be a patrol of the camp’s borders. She had instead been hiding a few of her possessions, things she hoped nobody would notice were missing until after she was gone.

Blake slowed down as she approached the tent both she and Adam used. He had been mildly distant recently and she had been using that as an opportunity to prepare for her escape. His distance usually meant that he was plotting something and if not for the train raid planned for tomorrow, the one she was using to escape, then she would be far more worried.

She finally reached the tent and took a long slow breath to calm herself. Just one more night of this, one more night of here and then it would all be over.

Entering the tent she cast a quick look around the inside, taking notice of the shared bedroll, hammock, and bookshelf, now missing a few of her favourite titles as they had been replaced with whatever had been hidden behind.

Blake was conflicted when she noticed that Adam was not present. On one hand she wouldn’t have to deal with him for however long it took him to return, yet on the other hand this was rather unusual, especially with the raid tomorrow. The thought of Adam knowing was not something she liked to think about, and so swiftly cut off that train of thought.

She took out one of the books she planned on leaving behind in an attempt to relax, she would never be able to forgive herself if her nerves showed and got her caught _this_ close to being able to leave so she lay down in the hammock and began to read.

* * *

Blake sat there reading in silence for two hours before Adam finally returned. He didn’t respond to her practiced greeting, instead opting to set down his possessions first, taking off his coat and then laying Wilt and Blush on the table cluttered with ammunition and various parts. Only then did he acknowledge Blake, not in his usual manner, but in the only way that could cause the sheer panic it did in her.

“I am disappointed in you my love,” Adam said, slowly stalking towards Blake. “I was informed by some new associates of mine that you were planning to escape. I refused to believe them at first, but no, they showed me a recording of you hiding supplies out past the perimeter.”

Blake stared up at Adam in shock _. “He found out!? Who could have told him?”_ She knew she wasn’t going to be able to get away from this easily, let alone actually escaping now.

“What was your plan?” Adam seethed. “Why would you do this? Abandon our cause, abandon _me?_ Why would you try to hurt me like this?”

“I-I...” Blake froze and couldn’t manage to get any words out, what made it worse was the now blood red eyes staring angrily at her. That was most definitely new, she’d seen him angry enough times to know that wasn’t normal for him.

That was when everything somehow got worse. At Blake’s apparent inability to speak, Adam began shouting, her sensitive ears complaining profusely at the sheer volume they were being bombarded with. The first thing she noticed was an apparent cracking sound coming from somewhere in front of her, then the deep growling appearing when Adam paused for breaths, and finally she noticed that Adam seemed to be giving off a blake smoke that smelled distinctly of Grimm.

The smell by itself would not have been a concern had she not noticed it before. He could have been killing various grimm in anger before he returned but the previous point negated that thought.

Finally snapping out of it, Blake regained the ability to move, which is exactly what she did. She activated her aura and used her semblance to leave a clone behind as she jumped around to behind Adam. To her disappointment and horror it didn’t fool him, instead he growled deeply as the cracking suddenly stopped and he turned his head to face her. The noises were definitely coming from him.

Adam fully turned around and within the time it took for Blake to blink he had been replaced with a Boarbatusk charging towards her.

With a quick gasp Blake used her semblance to place a clone and jump out of the way, it wasn’t enough as the grimm had apparently expected this and Blake found herself being bowled over onto her back, the grimm staring down at her from above, it’s unusually strong limbs managing to hold her down.

Blake could only stare in horror as the grimm on top of her began to salivate, dripping down onto her. It burnt terribly and she opened her mouth to let out a scream, only for some more to drip down into her mouth and down her throat. The sensation of such was so much worse than any pain she had experienced before. Her semblance activated on instinct and gave her the strength boost needed to roll out from underneath the grimm. Quickly grabbing Gambol Shroud from the entryway, she ran, leaving behind a shadow stuck with a pained and horrified expression on it’s quickly dissolving face.

* * *

Somehow Blake had made it out of the camp without being caught. That wasn’t to say she hadn’t been seen, she had been, and by at least half of the camp. 

She reached her stash only to find that it had all been burned, reduced to nothing but ashes and a horrible smell. Blake barely stopped, choosing instead to continue running away from the camp.

Her throat was burning, whatever that grimm liquid was doing to her she could tell wasn’t good. The worst thing wasn’t the pain, it wasn’t the constant smell of grimm either, nor was it the growing headache she now seemed to have. It was most definitely, undoubtedly the feeling of _something_ shifting. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what or where it was but the sensation was overwhelming.

Next came the sound, not unlike the one she had heard back when Adam had been shouting at her. Accompanying that was a sudden increase to her now splitting headache, and as Blake brought her hands up to clutch at her head, she vaguely noticed her arms emitting a familiar black smoke before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo this is my first fic.  
> I'm going to try and update this at least once a month for as long as I can manage.  
> This is also my first real attempt of creative writing since doing so in school around 3/4 years ago.  
> Any critisism is fine as long as it's not about the story itself.
> 
> Oh and yes, the title is a reference to Awake.
> 
> Comments are appreciated :3


	2. Encounter

Late night battles with grimm in the Forever Fall forest was not what Jaune had in mind when his travel partner/hopefully future teammate Ren mentioned that the three of them would be having extra training in unfavourable situations to prepare for Beacon’s entrance exam. He certainly should have expected that Nora would be put on the case of causing such situations. 

Currently, running on around 3 hours of sleep, Jaune found himself fighting off a relatively small pack of Beowolfes. Nothing he couldn’t handle on his own as he had improved generously over the last few months since he ran away from home and met up with his travelling partners.

Be that as it may, his success wouldn’t last much longer. It was his mistake to sit down on a nearby log after finishing off the last of the pack, as such he was not prepared for another grimm to come crashing straight into him from the thick of the forest.

He was immediately bowled over, landing on his back with the grimm staring down at him. He struggled against it and eventually managed to lift it up and push it off to the side, allowing him to dash over to Crocea Mors where he had dropped it on the ground, still in it’s new two handed mode.

Quickly, Jaune transformed his weapon, now in the form of both a sword and shield.

Taking a moment to evaluate the grimm in front of him, he found he didn’t recognize it at all. It appeared to be mostly cat-like, not unlike a panther. It had less bone spurs than the typical grimm, meaning that it’s dark body would have been incredibly difficult for Jaune to spot in the dark had it not been for the significant amount of moonlight making its way in through the trees.

Suddenly the mysterious grimm in front of him sprang into action, launching itself straight at Jaune.

In response he managed to redirect most of the force off to the side using his shield. Using a basic swing he brought up the sword half of his weapon to slice at the grimm. To his disappointment he only managed to nick off the tip of one of it’s ears.

Most grimm wouldn’t have batted an eye at this, yes the usual one would respond with some sort of outraged noise, only to continue on with its attack. Instead this rather unusual specimen rolled around on the floor, roaring in pain for a few moments before slinking away and running into the woods in the opposite direction it had come from.

Jaune remained standing for a minute or so, not wanting to repeat his mistake from earlier.

He sat down when he saw his travelling partners Ren and Nora appear from the direction the mysterious grimm had run in.

“Hey Jaune!” Nora exclaimed, “Did ya see that weird grimm run through? It didn’t even let us try and fight it.” She looked visibly disappointed at that.

“Yeah, I fought it actually, it ran after I got a hit on it though. I’ve got no idea what species it was either, looked nothing like any I’ve seen before,” Jaune replied, visibly out of breath.

“Huh, weird.”

* * *

Blake woke with a start. Looking around her she could see lots of red leaves mixed with grimm residue.

Slowly getting up, she looked down to brush herself off, only to find that she too was covered in the dastardly stuff. She quickly brushed it off, cursing herself afterwards for breaking the one rule of never touching the stuff directly. It took her a moment of looking at the unblemished skin where she had touched it to realise there was some already on her face and uncovered arms. She quickly scraped it off from there with some uncompromised leaves, only to then notice that they were free of the intense burning rash that should have been there.

After a couple moments of confused thought did she realise precisely where she was, or to be more precise, where she wasn’t. At first the lack of tents and other camping products confused her until she remembered that she had planned on escaping… The raid on the train wasn’t supposed to be until today, her plan was to escape using that. How did she get here?

Try as she might, Blake could not remember a single thing that could have led her here, the last thing she distinctly remembered was reading in her tent the day before. Had it even only been one day? Had she actually gone on the raid but couldn’t remember that either?  
Where even was she? Had she been caught and this was all just Adam messing with her?

As Blake spiralled into a pit of question after question, she failed to notice the cracking noise and smell of grimm until a wave of dizziness hit her. Suddenly snapping out of the downward spiral she became aware of herself just in time to experience the vaguely familiar feeling of shifting she would later recognize from the night before.

As soon as it had started, it was over with a burst of pain. Hanging onto consciousness Blake was aware enough to process the impossibility of what had just occurred to her. As far as she could tell, she had just transformed into some kind of grimm. With as much mental effort she could muster, she pulled herself out of the welcoming depths of unconsciousness to regain control of her now moving grimm body, in doing so somehow triggering the process of reverting the previous event.

A few moments later Blake was lying down on her back, gasping for breath with a wild and terrified look in her eyes. Not only did she now remember everything from the last night up until she blacked out, she also had just experienced something that she had no idea how to even begin to explain.

She lay there in a pile of leaves and grimm residue for whoever knows how long before she eventually forced herself to her feet. Adam undoubtedly already had his entire chapter of the White Fang searching for her and as such she needed to move. Seemingly inexplicable grimm transformations be damned, she was not going to return there, willingly or not.

After brushing herself down again, Blake made sure to do a quick inventory check to see what she had managed to bring with her.

Gambol shroud: Check!

Scroll: Damaged, but there. Check!

Lien: No, she hadn’t the time or thought to grab any. None in any banks either.

Her bow: No, that could make hiding difficult, she’d have to grab a new one.  
  
There were plenty of other things that could have been on her list, those were the only ones that hadn’t been placed in her now destroyed stash, except for the lien.

Now tasked with the decision on where to go next Blake faltered. She could continue on with her plan to go to Beacon, but with everything that happened to her last night, she was unsure if that was the right option anymore. Her other option was to return home, to Menagerie, although she quickly shot that down, not wanting to both face her parents and bring them anywhere near herself until she at least understood more about what had happened to her. At least at Beacon the other students would be able to potentially deal with her, should problems arise.

With that thought her mind was made up, Beacon it was. Quickly reorienting herself with the view from atop a tree, Blake set off in the direction of Vale, and by extension, Beacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo this is my first fic.  
> I'm going to try and update this at least once a month for as long as I can manage.  
> This is also my first real attempt of creative writing since doing so in school around 3/4 years ago.  
> Any critisism is fine as long as it's not about the story itself.
> 
> Oh and yes, the title is a reference to Awake.
> 
> Comments are appreciated :3


	3. Interrogation

Blake looked up in awe at the sheer scale of the buildings in front of her. Beacon was known as the best hunter’s academy on Remnant for a reason and it was clear that no expense had been spared in its construction. She had seen it before of course, in passing on TV, in the background of various social media pictures, and on the pamphlet she currently held in both hands.

_ “Just go up to the reception and ask about enrolling under the outsiders program, that’s what the gatekeepers said.”  _ Blake thought to herself.

The outsiders program was a program put in place for those without a reliable source of income. It allowed students access to the funds they would need for ammunition, outfits, parts, and the more mundane of school supplies. Students without housing would also be provided access to a specialized dormitory until the start of the school year.

Blake looked up from the pamphlet to see she had arrived outside of the reception entrance. She paused for a moment to take a deep breath and adjust her new bow before she walked through the automatic doors to the reception desk.

“Hello, I’d like to enroll under the outsiders program.” Blake said to the receptionist.

“Okay, if you could just fill out this form then please.” The receptionist handed her a clipboard with a form and pen attached.

Blake just smiled and nodded in response. Taking the clipboard, she sat down on one of the nearby chairs lining the wall and began to look it over.

_ “Name, Age, all the standard stuff,”  _ She thought to herself, writing down all the necessary information. She began to frown however as the form began to request more personal information such as place of birth, place of training/mentor, any former affiliations

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that some of those were optional, she wouldn’t have to try and come up with a convincing lie just yet.

As she went back over to the reception desk she saw none other than Headmaster Ozpin walk into the room sipping from a mug of… Was that hot chocolate? If she could smell it from this far it had to be very strong.

She returned her attention back to the receptionist to hand them the form. They took it with a smile and turned around to hand it off to someone waiting nearby, only for Ozpin to intercept it instead.

“If you’ll excuse me I’ll be handling this case. Follow me Miss Belladonna,” Ozpin said without even glancing at the form in his hands.

Ozpin led a worried Blake into a nearby meeting room and sat down in one of the chairs, gesturing for her to do the same.

“Give me a moment to read through this and we can talk afterwards,” Ozpin said, straightening the form as he began to read.

Blake looked around nervously at the barren room. Something fishy was going on here, he’d known her name before he even looked at the form…  _ “He knows who I am!” _ Blake began to panic. If he knew who she was, he could also know what she’d done, what she’d been a part of.  _ “He might not know too much, I’ll try and not reveal too much just in case,”  _ She thought.

In her panic Blake hadn’t noticed the faint tingle in her eyes or Ozpin’s shocked face as he looked back up at her.

“I was about to tell you that everything looked to be in order but it appears I’ll have to keep you a little while longer,” Ozpin said, shaking his head softly.

“Is there something I missed?” Blake asked, hoping this didn’t mean that he knew.

“If it’s about your past I can say there’s quite a lot of blank space here, although that’s not what I want to talk about. What did you do to make your eyes do that?” Ozpin asked her, speaking softly and leaning forward slightly.

“Do what professor?” Blake said, more focused on his first sentence.  _ “He knows? Well, that I’m hiding something at least. But he let it go. Is he just going to ignore it?” _

Ozpin just raised an eyebrow at her response. “I’ve met one person before whose eyes could change like that. I have to ask, what were you thinking of when that happened?”

“When what happened? I don’t understand.” Blake replied.

“Your eyes. They, well, changed colour, and not in the usual kind you would expect from a semblance either. There is no semblance that would make someone’s eyes look like those of a grimm.”

“What?” Blake said, going ghostly pale.

“Do you know what could have caused that?” Ozpin questioned.

“I...” Blake trailed off.  _ “What do I tell him?”  _ She asked herself.  _ “I can’t tell him, he wouldn’t let me in if I did, and I certainly don’t know enough about it to even begin to explain.” _

“I was just thinking of what I would be doing after this meeting.” Blake said quickly.

Ozpin sighed softly. “I was expecting a bit more of a believable lie but you can’t really blame me for not expecting the truth right away. However this is a deathly serious matter and I already have a suspicion of what it is, I just need you to confirm a few things first so I ask again. What were you thinking of that could have caused your eyes to change like that?”

Blake could instantly tell that she was not getting out of her until she told the truth. With a deep sigh of resignation, she began to explain.

“I was thinking, no, panicking that you might have known who I was” She said.  _ “He has a suspicion of what it is? Does he know about what’s going on with me?”  _

“As I thought, negativity is what brings out the Grimm after all,” Ozpin said softly, nodding with his eyes closed. “Thank you, that was enough information to confirm my suspicions and I would now like to ask you a few questions. You will not be leaving this room until I have received truthful answers to any and all questions I may ask you. If a question does not apply to you I would like you to inform me immediately. I will also be recording our conversation to review later on.”

“I understand professor,” Blake said nervously.

“Good then let’s start with an easy one. What happened that turned you into, well, for lack of a better term, into a Grimm.” Ozpin spoke with a deadly serious look on his face.

Blake then proceeded to explain to Ozpin in detail the events that had transpired on the previous night, reluctantly explaining what her relationship with Adam when prompted and going into full detail on how exactly she had been turned.

“I see. And when exactly was this?” Ozpin asked thoughtfully.

“Last night, around 22:00,” Was Blake’s response.

“And what happened after you ran?”

“I ran until I blacked out, looking back at that and from what happened this morning I’m pretty sure I blacked out as I transformed into a grimm.”

“And do you remember anything else after that?” Ozpin questioned.

“No, I… Yes, I think I can remember some of it now.” Blake said softly.

“I see, and what would that be?”

“Running, a lot of it. I think I may have run into some people.” Blake let out a small gasp as she began to remember a bit about the previous night’s encounter.

Ozpin’s only response was to raise an eyebrow.

“I tried to fight one of them. They managed to get a hit on me and I ran after that.” Blake kept on speaking, swallowing nervously as she tried not to think about what Ozpin would do to her afterwards.

“Would you be able to describe what they looked like?”

“I don’t think so, no, although I may be able to recognise them if I see them.”

“I understand, and is that all that you remember?” Ozpin asked.

Blake nodded in response.

“Good. Now that you’ve answered my questions I’ll try and answer any questions you may have about your new condition.” Ozpin said in response.

“You already knew about… whatever it is I can be classed as now, how?” Was Blake’s first question.

“That I’m afraid I cannot tell you, although I can say that the official term for yourself and any others like you is a Hybrid. It is a permanent condition, and under the right circumstances can be passed on to others, although we are still unsure as to the full list of methods. You will have to be careful in that regard.”

“Okay, is there anywhere I can find information on this?”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you but we hold very little of that ourselves, what we do have is fairly recent though. It was provided by the last Hybrid I met, A student in the school who had managed to hide his nature from us until some time in his third year. He did write down a collection of as much as he could tell, which I will send to your scroll. However he went missing around 16 years ago so cannot answer any questions you may have himself. On an additional note he was born as such, instead of becoming a Hybrid later on in life such as yourself.” Ozpin answered.

It was at this moment that Ozpin’s scroll began to ring and he gave Blake an apologetic smile before answering. After a few short and increasingly worried words were exchanged with the caller he hung up and returned his attention to the one sitting before him.

“I’m sorry about that, something has come up and I am urgently needed elsewhere. If you could follow me, I’ll have someone escort you to the temporary dorms.” He stood up only to notice Blake’s confused and mildly shocked expression. “Is something the matter Miss Belladonna?”

“You’re still going to let me in after everything I just told you?” Was Blake’s incredulous response.

“Yes, what happened to you is hardly your fault and you should not be punished as such. However my reasoning might not be entirely innocent, and I would also like to keep an eye on you, if only because I am interested in whatever information you may be able to discover about your kind in the future.” 

“I understand” Blake nodded slowly.

“That being said, I urge you to not speak of this to anyone who you are sure does not already know. I will have to inform some of the staff as to your status, but I will not be informing all of them. I also ask that you come to me immediately once something unexpected happens, no matter how insignificant or unrelated it may seem.” Ozpin said.

“Yes professor.” was Blake’s answer.

“Good, now follow me.” Ozpin then led her out of the meeting room and over to an assistant who then proceeded to lead her to the temporary dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo this is my first fic.  
> I'm going to try and update this at least once a month for as long as I can manage.  
> This is also my first real attempt of creative writing since doing so in school around 3/4 years ago.  
> Any critisism is fine as long as it's not about the story itself.
> 
> Oh and yes, the title is a reference to Awake.
> 
> Comments are appreciated :3


	4. Interruptions

The temporary dorms were surprisingly well furnished, well, the common room was at least.

Instead of having individual bedrooms or anything similar, Blake found that she would be spending her nights in a rather large room with a row of beds on each of the two longest sides.

Finding the bed she had been assigned - bed 2B - she flopped down on it, revelling in it’s surprisingly soft mattress. She let out a long groan, her day so far had been exhausting. The combination of finding out she could now transform into a _grimm_ of all things, along with Ozpin finding out and the constantly shifting pressure she had been feeling ever since nearing Vale, she wasn’t feeling too great. The last one confused her as she had absolutely no idea what it could mean.

On the upside she had now made it to Beacon! She could stay here for the next four years, become a Huntress and then… then…

Blake had no idea what she would do after that. Yes, she knew she wanted to do something related to the cause of equality, although how she would do that by becoming a huntress, she didn’t know.

That was a thought she could put off for another time, for now she was going to have a quick cat nap, at least until Ozpin got around to sending her those files.

With that she set an alarm for three hours and settled down to sleep.

The alarm was not how Blake ended up waking , it was instead by a group of three, headed by a girl loudly talking off the heads of her two companions. To Blake’s discontent, she didn’t notice the room was occupied until Blake sat up and stretched, at which point she promptly closed her mouth with a sheepish look.

“Oh sorry, did I wake you?” The new girl spoke.

“Yes,” Blake said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She checked the time on her scroll to find the alarm was set to go off in 12 minutes.

She explained that to the new arrivals and they all let out a sigh of relief before the leading one held out her hand for Blake to shake.

“Well, I guess I'll introduce myself then. Nora Valkyrie, pleasure to meet you.”

“Lie Ren, likewise.”

“Jaune Arc, quite the same.”

Blake briefly stared at Jaune after his clumsy attempt at speaking formally. She felt like she recognised him from somewhere, although she couldn’t quite figure out where. She however decided not to voice her question.

"Blake Belladonna." She said, accepting Nora’s handshake.

Nora looked like she was about to start talking again, only for Ren to place a hand on her shoulder and tell her to wait until they'd finished unpacking before disturbing the recently woken with countless possibly intrusive questions.

Blake gave him a grateful smile at that and laid back down as the three headed off to their assigned beds. She pulled out her scroll again to see that Ozpin had sent her a file and a message informing her that she would be unable to access it until she was fully processed by the system, as such she would not have access for another few hours. 

He had also stated that he had been unable to find the document he had been intending to find, but had however found a series of old diaries, tales, and stories that should hopefully contain some useful information.

Noticing Ozpin’s message had been sent around an hour after she fell asleep, she decided to check it anyway but to her disappointment she did not yet have access.

After that she left her bed with a stretch and a yawn to go exploring.

Taking a look around the bedroom she noticed that there was a distinct lack of used beds. Other than hers and the three now claimed by the newest arrivals, there were none that 

looked used.

Stepping out into the common room she took a look around to see a couch on the far wall, a few tables scattered around, and a small kitchen area. There wasn’t anything else of note in there to see, except for the bathroom door off to the side.

Entering the kitchen, Blake noticed a note placed on one of the cupboards. Taking a look at it she found it was filled with tea bags for anyone to use. After taking a moment to brew some, she sat down and closed her eyes at a nearby table, letting herself melt into the taste.

After some time sat there she opened her eyes at the sound of nearing footsteps. Looking up she saw one of the new arrivals: Jaune. She still couldn’t figure out why she recognized him.

“Sorry for waking you earlier, Nora can be quite enthusiastic at times.” Jaune apologised, walking over to prepare some tea for him and his companions.

“It’s alright, I got enough sleep and was about to wake up anyway.“ Blake replied.

“Even so, we should be more careful, we can’t go around making as much noise as we want anymore.” Ren said as he walked into the room, followed by a slightly dazed Nora.

“Yeah, that's true.” Nora sighed.

With that Ren gestured to the rest of the chairs at Blake’s table, requesting to sit with her. She nodded in response while taking another sip.

A short moment later, all 4 of them were sitting down at the table, each holding a cup of tea. Not one for silence, Nora was the first to speak up.

“Soo, what brings you to beacon?” she asked Blake.

“I... That one’s quite personal.” Blake said, really not wanting to answer that.

“Oh, sorry” Nora said, noticeably disappointed with herself.

“I can answer some questions if you have any, although any like that I will decline.” Blake responded, hoping not to upset the girl.

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Nora replied, “so... First question, what’s your semblance.”

Blake nodded at that much more pleasant question. “I can create shadow clones. They can be used to distract people and can in some cases give me a strength or speed boost.”

“Oooooh, I can produce and turn electricity into strength!” Nora exclaimed, “Here, let me show you.”

Nora beelined for the cutlery drawer, only to run head first into a golden yellow rectangle that noisily appeared in front of her. Her response was to pout at Jaune whose hand was covered in his aura of the same colour.

As Nora sat back down Jaune explained that his semblance allowed him to create static but destructible barriers.

“I haven’t yet figured out how to use them in a fight but they _were_ useful for containing Nora.” He said, his friend somehow pouting harder. “At least until she realised she could break them.” Nora let out an evil cackle at that.

Ren was the next to explain his semblance, stating that he could calm people’s emotions and hide them from grimm.

With the basic introductions and semblance discussions out of the way, it was Blake’s turn to ask a question. She decided to go for something simple.

“So, how did you three meet?” She asked

Yet again, it was Nora who spoke up first.

“Me and Ren have been together for a _while._ ” She said, drawing out the last word before she blushed and smiled softly, “Well, not _together_ together, that was a recent change.”

“Jaune here joined us around a year ago,” Nora continued, not letting anyone else have a chance to speak, “He ran away from home and has been travelling with us ever since.”

Jaune laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, that was a pretty major thing in the news a while back, turns out that when you have a well known family, your drama gets broadcast too. I still have to hide my face in settlements sometimes.” He sighed.

Blake hummed and nodded at that. That would explain how she recognized him.

The conversation continued for a while longer, shifting from topic to topic until it settled on the most interesting grimm that each had killed. Nora kept on over exaggerating with Ren correcting her as he had also fought the same one. To Blake’s horror Jaune stated his experience with the mysterious grimm from the night before. She immediately knew that he had been the one she ran into and it fully explained her feeling of recognition on seeing him.

As she was yet again stuck in her internal thoughts, Blake didn’t notice that the conversation around her had stopped. She snapped out of it when Nora, who had been sitting next to her, placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up only to receive a sharp intake of breath from the three nearby as they saw her blood red eyes.

“Woah, are you okay?” Nora asked.

“I-I’m not feeling too great, excuse me.” Blake said as she felt her stomach churn. She quickly got up and ran for the bathroom, barely getting through the door before she violently threw up a sticky black substance onto the floor.

After she had finished, Blake shakily stood and shuffled over to the sink to wash out her mouth, only to look at the mirror in shock as she now apparently had a tail.

It was pure black with segmented sections of spiked bone and appeared to be giving off black smoke. With a shaking hand, Blake reached out and grabbed it, only to gasp in shock when she could feel it in both her hand and her new limb. Her thoughts were cut off as a few quick knocks came from the bathroom door, along with Nora’s concerned voice asking if she was okay.

Blake paused at that. No, she wasn’t okay, how could she be expected to be okay with any of this?

Upon hearing no answer, Nora opened the door and walked in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a drawing my sibling did.  
> 
> 
> I think once a week is the maximum I'll post, at least for now.


	5. Divulgence

Nora had no idea what had happened to Blake but it was clear that it was the reason she ran. Her eyes had gone red, followed by her whole body emitting off a faint blake smoke. It could have been something to do with her semblance however she thought it focused on shadows instead of smoke.

Then she heard it, retching followed by the unforgettable sound of somebody violently emptying their stomach.

After sharing a concerned look with her companions Nora got up and walked over to the bathroom door. She stood there for a moment listening for anything before she knocked on the door and asked Blake if she was okay.

Upon hearing no answer, she opened the door and walked in.

The first thing she noticed was the black puddle of _something_ dissolving on the floor, next she noticed Blake was looking at her hands with shocked red eyes, lastly Nora realised what Blake was holding.

Nora had seen many tails on people before but none of those came close to what she saw in front of her. It was completely and undeniably grimm. From the spiked bone plating and the black smoke it was giving off to the slow drip of gloop not unlike the puddle already on the floor, there was no possible way it could be anything else.

Nora was both disgusted and confused. How, or even why, would a person have a grimm tail? She then heard a cracking noise coming from the girl in front of her, followed by Blake snapping out of whatever had frozen her in place.

Blake looked up at the uncomfortably familiar sound, only to now notice that Nora had entered without her noticing.

Oh no. 

This was not the time for _that_ to start happening either. Feeling a small pressure on her waist, she looked down to find her tail had removed itself from her hand and wrapped itself around her. 

She heard the cracking again, this time accompanied by her stomach lurching as she hunched over and threw up another glob of the same black substance dissolving a few feet away.

After retching in place for a few moments Blake was surprised to feel a hand softly placed on her back. Looking up she saw Nora looking at her with a mix of concern, confusion and a hint of disgust.

“Grimm poisoning?” Nora asked, not fully believing that it could be the answer.

Blake shook her head, not trusting that more of it wouldn’t come up if she tried to speak.

“Do you know what it could be?” Nora questioned.

Blake coughed, when nothing else came up she took that as a sign she could speak.

“No, I- Yes.” She said hoarsely, giving up on her attempt to deny it, there was no way she could think of a believable lie for this and get away with it. She just hoped Nora wouldn’t see her as a threat because of it.

With Nora’s help, Blake got up and over to the sink to yet again clean out her mouth.

After Blake had taken a few moments to recover, Nora spoke up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nora asked.

Blake paused at that. It could be helpful, talking to someone about it. Ozpin wasn't the type of person she would want to vent to and telling her future team was something she wanted to put off as long as possible.

Before Blake could respond, Nora continued.

"I promise I won't say anything to anyone. I know I talk a lot, maybe too much some of the time, but i can be quiet when I need to."

That reassured Blake of her lingering concerns so she nodded her head and responded with an affirmative.

Nora hopped up onto the sink, Blake following her shortly after. Blake then began to roughly explain what had happened, refraining from divulging some purely personal details such as who Adam was. They sat there talking for a while, watching the black substance on the floor slowly dissolve until nothing was left.

Blake paused when she arrived at explaining what she remembered from that night in the forest. After taking a deep breath she continued, looking away from Nora so she wouldn’t be able to see her inevitable negative reaction.

Once she had recounted the events of the last night Blake stopped, looking down in silence as she waited for Nora’s wrath. It was to her complete surprise when Nora instead brought her arm around her shoulder in a one armed hug. Blake stiffened at the contact, looking up to see Nora looking at her, not with disgust or hatred, but with concern. She wasn’t disgusted at her, she wasn’t upset. She was _concerned_ . Concerned _for_ her.

And somehow, deep in the back of her mind, Blake knew she wasn't reading that incorrectly.

“So that was you. Huh,” Nora stated.

Blake nodded in response as she looked away yet again.

“I… I’m sorry” She said, really not knowing what else to say.

“What?” Nora said, leaning down to look Blake in the eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry about! That wasn’t your fault, _none_ of it was.”

“I know,” Blake replied, “But… What if it happens again. I came here so that at least anyone I attacked could defend themselves, but what if it happens while on a mission, while around civilians. It could happen any time, I don’t even know what causes it!” She said, staring into her open hands, her new tail resting on top of them.

Nora was quiet for a moment before she responded.

“Do you have any information on it at all? You mentioned that you were called a ‘Hybrid’ or something, where did you get that from?” She asked.

“Ozpin. He found out, recognized the colour change my eyes did. He said he knows something about this, just not very much. I’ve been sent a few files on it but I don’t have access yet.” Blake answered.

“Well that’s good,” Nora piped up before asking another question. “Was there anything else that happened that night?”

“No,” Blake responded, “The next morning I woke up covered in grimm residue and walked the rest of the way here. I did notice this sort of constant pressure that got more intense the closer I got. I have no idea what it means but I’m certain it’s related to this whole thing somehow.”

Nora was about to respond when her scroll began singing out as an alarm went off. With a small groan she stretched before turning to face Blake.

“I’ve got to go and take my meds, I’ll be back in a sec.” She said as she left the room, popping back in momentarily to ask if Blake would like anything from the kitchen.

After answering Blake had a thought and took out her scroll to check if she could now access the files Ozpin had sent her. To her surprise she could and opened the first one to have a look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh  
> this took much longer than I thought it would  
> hopefully the next one won't take as long :3
> 
> Thanks to my excellent friend for creating this beautiful piece :3  
>   
> [Here's a link to more of her stuff](https://www.instagram.com/jumbops/?igshid=10txrbb6clm8a)


	6. Lusus Naturae

Tales of the Lusus Naturae. That was the title of the file Blake opened.

It was clear from its preface that it contained various stories collected many centuries ago. It stated that not everything should be taken at face value as most if not all of the stories were written from the perspective of those experiencing things from the outside. They were also exactly that: stories.

To say Blake was unsettled would be quite the understatement. Within the first few paragraphs the first story had already painted the ‘Lusus Naturae’ as nothing but psychopathic monsters with the sole purpose of infiltrating and deceiving settlements to make way for the usual grimm. What followed was an incredibly detailed and disgusting account of a Hybrid eating a mangled and bloody corpse in what was described as “its mixed form, an amalgamation of being and beast.”

Her reading was soon interrupted by the return of Nora, bringing with her a glass of water for each of them and a plate of cinnamon bagels. Blake felt her stomach grumble at the sight, having requested for Nora to bring back anything containing her favourite spice.

“Here’s your cinnamon,” Nora said as she hopped up onto the sink, sitting back next to Blake with the plate of food placed between them.

Blake gave Nora a thankful look as she took a bite out of a bagel, relaxing at the comforting and familiar taste.

"Whatcha got there?" Nora asked, tilting her head towards Blake's scroll.

"It's one of the files Opzin sent, I have access now." Blake answered, tilting her scroll so Nora could see.

With a quick request and answer, Nora took Blake's scroll to catch up with what Blake had read.

While Nora was reading, Blake took the opportunity to eat a couple of the bagels, closing her eyes and relaxing as the tension that had appeared since entering the bathroom slowly faded away.

Her relaxation was shortly interrupted by Nora gasping softly. 

"Woah… Blake?" Nora said, trying to get her attention.

Blake let out a questioning hum as she opened her eyes.

"Uhh, it's your tail. It just… dissolved." Nora said softly, a look of intrigue and wonder visible on her face.

Blake looked down and sure enough, her tail had vanished, leaving only the faintest traces of quickly disappearing Grimm smoke.

With a rather flexible turn, Blake twisted around to look at her lower back where her tail had emerged from. Seeing nothing there, she reached out to touch her back, only to find the skin was perfectly normal.

Completely at a loss for words, Blake looked up at Nora to see the redhead looking back at her with a similarly confused expression.

“Wow...” Nora muttered softly, completely unable to articulate anything else.

Not wanting to ruin her now calm mood, Blake took a deep and calming breath before Nora handed back her scroll.

“This has all been… a  _ lot,  _ and whatever caused that is not something I want to deal with right now. I think I'm going to go and lie down for a bit." Blake stated as she stood up and stretched.

Nora nodded with a small affirmative sound, hopping up in a similar fashion and collecting the glasses, motioning for Blake to grab the plate.

Just as Nora was about to exit, she paused and tilted her head to the side as if she was thinking about something, taking a moment before she spoke up.

"Do you think you could show me your well, grim you?" Nora asked, "I know I saw it in the forest but that was only a brief look as you were running and it was dark and it sounds really cool but also really dangerous and it would be good to know more about it and-"

Nora's rambling was cut off by Blake clearing her throat.

"I- I don't think that's a good idea… I could hurt you or someone else and I don't even know how to do it." Blake replied, looking down at her feet

"I can take care of myself," Nora said. "As for not knowing how to do it, I don't mean immediately either. Those files have got to have  _ something _ useful in them and not just stuff made up to scare and alienate people."

After a short moment of contemplation, Blake spoke up.

"I'll think about it," she said, trying not to think of the horrors described in what she had read.

Nora smiled at that then opened the door and led the way out and into the kitchen, taking the opportunity in the time spent washing up to swap scroll numbers with each other.

Once they had finished, Nora disappeared with a wave to go and find her companions, the both of them having walked off somewhere while Nora had been preparing the bagels.

Now all alone, Blake re-entered the bedroom and collapsed on her bed.

That was not at all how she had envisioned her first day on Beacon’s campus going, not in the slightest. Wandering around and searching for the quiet areas was more along the lines of what she had in mind.

For now though, Blake was tired. That whole conversation had been draining and even if the food at the end had greatly improved her mood, she certainly wasn’t ready to continue reading any more of the information from Ozpin. However, a quick cat nap followed by a late night wander sounded  _ wonderful. _

* * *

A few hours later, now late into the evening with the sun just having set, Blake awoke. She rolled out of bed with a catlike yawn and stretched, blearily rubbing the sleep out of her eyes to notice the room was now again occupied. 

Nora was draped over Ren’s lap on their bed, enjoying the feeling of his hands running through her hair while they both read from their scrolls. Without looking up, Ren waved at Blake, followed shortly by a wave from Nora.

After a short walk out the temporary dorms, Blake found herself wandering around Beacon’s campus, taking in the serene sights in the fading evening light. After a moment it occurred to her that something else was also amiss, The pressure she’d felt since this morning had faded. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. It now felt almost comforting, filling her with a sense of quiet warmth, whereas before it had felt grating and stressful.

Some time into her wandering, Blake found a rather quiet and closed off area, home only to a single bench. Taking the opportunity, she sat down on it, only to stand up and begin moving again when her mind began to drift over to the discoveries and conversations of the past day.

To her dismay, that did nothing to help dismiss those thoughts and as her mind began to drift through the conversation with Ozpin, she began to pick out key pieces of information she had previously glossed over or ignored.

This was permanent. There was no way to undo it.

_ She could pass it on to others _ .

She shouldn’t have come here, she shouldn’t be anywhere  _ near _ civilization, be it the kingdoms or distant settlements.  _ This. Was. A. Mistake _ .

No.

No it wasn't.

If she hadn't left then… That was not something Blake wanted to think about now, possibly ever.

She needed to calm down, end that train of thought. Thinking about the _what if_ s of the past would never get her anywhere.

It was a short moment before another piece of that conversation wandered into her mind.

“Negativity is what brings out the grimm.” Blake said, repeating Ozpin’s words out loud for no one but herself to hear.

Is that what caused the transformations? Is that what caused the tail?

Calming down had made it disappear after all.

Was it just her emotions that caused it, or would other people's influence it too?

When Blake woke up that morning, she had no memory of where she was and how she got there and that had terrified her. Later on in the bathroom she had begun spiralling once she'd been asked if she was okay.

Ah, yes. Nora had found out, she should probably tell Ozpin about that.

After sending a message Ozpin's way, Blake looked around to find she'd wandered off with her thoughts and was now lost. With a sigh, she walked off in search of the temporary dorms.

There wasn't much time before the rest of the students would be arriving. The day after that, well, the teams would be formed and classes would start. Maybe she could get on one with Nora and her companions.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo this is my first fic.  
> I'm going to try and update this at least once a month for as long as I can manage.  
> This is also my first real attempt of creative writing since doing so in school around 3/4 years ago.  
> Any critisism is fine as long as it's not about the story itself.
> 
> Oh and yes, the title is a reference to Awake.
> 
> Comments are appreciated :3


End file.
